The eenie meenie minie moe guide to social media platforms

12 Jun The eenie meenie minie moe guide to social media platforms

You see the title of this blog post? That’s your first don’t. There should not be an iota of guesswork when it comes to choosing which social media platform/s you use. That was just a ploy to reel-in the Baby Boomers and Generation X, as was the picture of the 1970s boots. Believe it or not kids, people really did wear them back in the day, but enough of that.

I know it seems like a minefield. There are so many platforms to choose from – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube….I’m going to stop there because I am not in the habit of making people cry.

Each of these platforms is unique. Each attracts a certain kind of audience and enables you to communicate in a particular way.

I’m going to start with a quick run down of the types of people that populate the various platforms or networks. You want to engage with your target audience, so there is no point say in promoting your sick skate shoes on a network largely populated by silver surfers.

The first thing you need to do is think about your target audience. Who are they and where will I find them?

Here’s a quick run down of the social media demographics:

Facebook is the best place to reach Millennials (1982 – 2002) as well as Generation X (born 1965 – 1976), which is me. I know, well old! This is partly why young teens think it’s uber uncool.

84% of baby boomers (born 1946 – 1964) say Facebook is their favourite social media platform.

Instagram is used by more women than men – 55% of all online 18 – 29 year olds use it. 90% of all instagrammers are under the age of 35.

Snapchat is the favoured network for teens.

Twitter is a mixed bag – 37% of users are 18 – 29 and 25% are 30 – 49.

You Tube attracts more or less equal numbers of men and women. The average age range is 18 – 49.

Pinterest is populated mostly by women with an even distribution of age groups from 18 – 64.

LinkedIn is mostly used by professionals as a business to business network. LinkedIn users are less likely to use other networks.

Reddit – 67% of users are male and they are mostly under the age of 30.

Great, so now you’ve indentified where your key customer is likely to be lurking. What next?

Do some research. Have a look at what your competitors are doing on the chosen platform/s and come back next week as I’ll be talking about the types of content that sit best on certain networks. Until then, happy posting!